Happy New Year

I started cooking for the Rosh Hashana dinner I'm making. I baked an apple cake on Wednesday and yesterday I made a brisket. Later in the day I realized that the brisket was kind of small, so even though I'm making chicken, Boyfiend went out and picked up another. I figured I'd start it last night and finish it today so I'll have to do tomorrow is heat it up, sliced, in the gravy.

Today I have to make chicken stock and the chicken because I can't actually cook anything tomorrow. Instead of coming to dinner, my cousin Paul, his wife Sarah, and crazy Aunt Bea are coming to visit around lunchtime which means I'll probably have to pick up some food for them too. Some of you may recall that my family's crazy dysfunctional. Because of their lunacy, when I called Aunt Bea to invite her to Rosh Hashanah dinner she told me that I'd called too late, she already had plans. Boyfiend responded, "Plans more important then her family?" Later, when I called Paul to invite him, Sarah answered the phone and responded to my invitation by informing me that they'd be in Philadelphia, only they'd be having dinner at Bea's house. I should have known she was lying and just didn't want to tell me she was having dinner and I wasn't invited.

So now I know and they're coming to visit in the afternoon to see the Fiendling. If Bea joins them, which I'm assuming she will, it will be awkward because I'm pissed that she lied for no reason, but I'm sure it would be slightly stilted and awkward anyway, because Paul's still furious with my mother, who's still furious with him. My mother was planning to come over earlier on Saturday to help me get stuff together, but that's not an option since their paths cannot cross. Their visit will be short and uncomfortable, but they haven't seen the Fiendling since he was two weeks old so I'm going to deal with it. What a hassle.

Back to the brisket. I put it in around eight last night and it needed to cook for about five hours at 325. When we went to bed I figured I'd just turn down the heat and turn it off when the Fiendling inevitably woke me up two hours later. I turned the heat down to 225, and threw in a Coors Light no one's ever going to drink for extra moisture. Well, as luck would have it, the Fiendling actually slept through the night. I woke him up at seven this morning to eat because I needed the relief. Then, forgetting about the brisket entirely we went back to sleep. When I woke up at nine the brisket smelled delicious and I realized what I'd done. I ran downstairs, flung open the oven door, grabbed the pan and ripped off the foil. Surprisingly, it was still there, and not looking too bad. The gravy is perfect. It's cooling now, so in a few hours I'll slice it and see how it tastes. Tomorrow I'm just going to throw it in the gravy anyway. How bad could it be?

If you're coming for dinner tomorrow pretend that you haven't read this. Or eat the chicken.

Brisket

5-6 pound brisket
4 onions
4 potatoes (optional)
1/2 pound of baby carrots (optional)
large can beef broth
2 cups of red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 325. While heating a large pan on the stove, salt and pepper both sides of the brisket. When the pan is hot, add the oil. After the oil is heated, sear the brisket for a few minutes on each side. While the brisket sears, chop the onions and potatoes and place them with the carrots around the edges of a dutch oven large enough for the brisket, or a deep roasting pan. Leave a few pieces of onion in the middle and rest the brisket on the onions in the middle. Mix the liquid ingredients together and pour over the brisket. Cover tightly and roast for 4 to 5 hours (NOT OVERNIGHT), adding more liquid if necessary.

Remove the brisket when the edges fall away easily when prodded with a fork. Wrap the meat in foil and let it cool completely. Set aside the onions, potatoes and carrots. Leave the gravy in the pan, or if letting the brisket cool overnight, refrigerate. When the brisket has cooled, slice on an angle against the grain. Add three cups of water to the gravy and heat until hot. Pour over the sliced brisket and vegetables in an ovenproof pan and cook for 30 minutes.